Disclaimer

This article originally proposed how to back up contacts to Yahoo! Mail and suggested it was possible to save all Yahoo! contacts in a CSV file and then re-import them into Facebook or another third party account, such as Gmail. This was indeed possible until recently, however, Yahoo! has disabled the feature:

Contacts imported from Facebook cannot be exported from Yahoo! Contacts by any method; including export to .CSV/.VCF file formats, sync with mobile devices, or sync with a desktop mail/contacts client.

How To Export Facebook Contacts to Yahoo!

While it’s not possible to export Facebook contacts from Yahoo! Mail, at least you can export them to Yahoo! Mail. Make sure you are logged into Facebook. Then go to your Yahoo! Mail account. Switch to the Contacts tab and click the Import Contacts button next to the Facebook logo.

Select the Facebook icon and confirm that you wish to share your contacts with Yahoo! A few seconds later you will be able to view your imported contacts on your Facebook list.

Note that this method works only for contacts who gave Facebook permission to share their email address when friends download their contact data. This option is available via General Account Settings.

How To Transfer Facebook Contacts Into Any Other Email Account

As you might have figured out already, it’s not possible to import Facebook contacts directly into Gmail. And although you can most likely import a CSV file to your email account, the Yahoo! Mail CSV file won’t contain your Facebook contacts, as pointed out in the disclaimer above. Frustrating, isn’t it?

The only workaround I found involves annoying your friends. Facebook contacts imported into Yahoo! Mail are contacts after all, meaning you can actually send your contacts an email. When you do that, CC your target account and it should do the rest for you. For example in Gmail, email addresses of people not yet in your contacts are automatically added to Other Contacts. The alternative is that you manually copy your Facebook contacts from the contacts list on Yahoo! Mail.

Now if you want to be able to export your Facebook contacts, this can be done with the email method above and a blank Gmail account. As you send an email from your Yahoo! Mail account to all your Facebook contacts, don’t just CC your main email account, also CC a new/blank Gmail account. All email addresses will be added to Other Contacts and you can subsequently export them to a CSV file.

How To Export Your Email Contacts

Although I’m describing this process for Yahoo!, it’s the same for any of your other email accounts, at least in principle. While viewing your Yahoo! contacts, click Actions and select Export All…

Click the Export Now button next to the option Yahoo! CSV.

You will need to verify that you are not a robot by entering a CAPTCHA. And then it takes another couple of seconds until your download will start.

As explained in the disclaimer above, the CSV file saved from Yahoo! Mail will not contain your Facebook contacts.

How To Import Contacts Into Facebook

At the Find Friends page you can either import all of your Yahoo!, Skype, ICQ, and contacts from many other services, or upload a CSV file. I will continue with the Yahoo! Mail example, but not without pointing out that Facebook contacts previously imported into Yahoo! Mail will not be imported into Facebook.

Log into your Yahoo! account, then go to Facebook’s Find Friends page. If you have previously added your Yahoo! email address to Facebook, it should be filled in already. Click the Find Friends button.

A window will pop up asking you to authorize access to your Yahoo! Contacts and profiles. Click Agree to proceed.

In the next step, you will be able to select contacts not yet friends with you, but who do have a Facebook account. In the third step you can invite contacts to Facebook who don’t seem to have an account, at least not with the address in your contact list.

How To Import A CSV File Into Facebook

To import contacts via a CSV file, scroll further down the list and click Find Friends next to the Other Tools option.

When you select Upload Contact File several options will expand. Click the Choose File button and browse to the CSV file you want to import, for example the Yahoo! CSV if you saved it as described above. Click the Upload Contacts button and follow the Find Friends and Invite Friends procedure described above.

Conclusion

Exporting contacts from Facebook into other accounts is a petty mess, but it’s not impossible. Importing contacts into Facebook, however, is surprisingly convenient, as Facebook provides many ways to find your friends and invite them to join you on your favorite social network.

What other ways to import or export data from Facebook are you using or missing?

There is another slightly convoluted way.
In yahoo click "Compose" and click the add contact button.
When the list of contacts comes up press CTRL+A then CRTL+C to copy everything on the page
Open a text editor like notepad++ and press CTRL+V.
Notepad++ is free and very good BTW. Google it.

All of your contact names and email addresses will now appear in the text editor with a little about 30 lines of additional text which can be discarded at the bottom.

Select the entire list and press SHIFT+TAB to remove any leading tabs.

Next do a find and replace (CTRL+H) for "(" and replace with a tab (\t in notepad++ extended search and replace)
Also do a find an replace for ")" and replace with nothing.

Now you'll have a list of your contacts, one on each line with a tab between the name and the email.
Copy this list and paste into excel. Type "name" in cell A1 and "email" in cell B1
Save it as a CSV and import into Google.

I just wanted to let you know there is another way to get around the yahoo restriction on exporting facebook contacts. It still lets you print them, so you can get a plain html page with all of your facebook contacts. You can then copy from this page into a csv file. I wrote a python script to automate this process, so you can get all of your contacts out in a minute, and you won't have to jump through as many hoops.

Yes I did and what I found was that you cannot selectively create a CSV of your imported Facebook contacts. Even though Yahoo! contacts shows various groups, it looks like you can only export a list of all your Yahoo! contacts, including the imported Facebook contacts.

If you already have a Yahoo! account with contacts in it and don't want to mix them with your Facebook contacts, the workaround would be to create a new and blank Yahoo! account.

Sorry, but you're busted! :-) I used a clean Yahoo account with an empty Contacts folder, imported my Facebook contacts, then tried to export them. It "seemed" to work ('download finished') but the file was empty. Then I read this in the Yahoo help file when I search on "export contacts":

"Contacts imported from Facebook cannot be exported from Yahoo! Contacts by any method; including export to .CSV/.VCF file formats, sync with mobile devices, or sync with a desktop mail/contacts client."

I looked into this further and it seems like Yahoo! quietly disabled export of Facebook contacts late last year. The date on the message you found is January 2013. I guess that's what happens when you carry an idea for an article on your mind for too long...

I will update the article, hopefully with an alternative way to export to Gmail.

ari shrum

May 29, 2013 at 6:24 pm

No worries!

Anthony Casadonte

May 30, 2013 at 2:40 am

I couldn't even manage to import facebook contacts into Yahoo. For some reason the facebook icon that one must select to import contacts is gone for me. I can keep clicking the empty space where it should be there and eventually it will give me the message: "contacts found. We are now importing of from Facebook." But this never finishes for me. So I would definitely appreciate a work around. (currently trying to use facebook contacts for improving google+).

Tina Sieber

May 30, 2013 at 11:33 am

Anthony,

I'm not sure why your Yahoo! Mail account doesn't show the Facebook icon for you. Were you logged into your Facebook account before trying to do this?

Tina Sieber

May 30, 2013 at 11:31 am

I updated the article and did find a workaround that isn't entirely manual, but it's not very convenient either. Let me know in case you find something better.

Nik

May 31, 2013 at 1:46 am

I found a hole and invented a work around. If I post it publicly, it'll be blocked no? I'll let any of you know privately if you like.

Nik

May 31, 2013 at 2:09 am

I just exported the entire list to excel in easy columns... it's 100% possible.

Tina is a freelance writer and editor, with a background in science and sustainability. At MUO, she's responsible for the Windows and Productivity sections. During her free time she enjoys live music and spending time in nature.